james_camerons_avatarfandomcom-20200222-history
User blog:Willofeywa/Finding Our Place: The Struggle of Humanity and the Individual
There is an old saying that if you find a job that you love, you will never work a day in your life. Now that I have found the job that I love, I am now finding that it is not entirely true. It is still work, but I still love it, and that love of doing it is what gives me motivation each day. Motivation that goes beyond status, or influence, or even putting money into my wallet. The difficulty that many people today find is what is that thing that I want to do? Where do I belong and what am I supposed to do? I didn't always know the answer. When I was a kid I wanted to be a secret agent, but that didn't exactly pan out well. I now find myself scratching my head at what makes me unique that I was able to find a path in life that I can happily walk? It surely was no easy process, but surely it is not impossible, nor difficult enough that only a rare few could achieve it. There are questions we must ask ourselves as individuals: What do I like to do? What am I good at? These questions are easy to answer but difficult to apply in our lives. Imagine where we would be today if every individual performed the tasks in life that they enjoyed and were good at. Imagine the discoveries that might have been made and the places we might have reached. The sad truth is that while the advancement of the human race is considerable compared to any other lifeform on the planet, it is nothing compared to our potential both as individuals and as a collective. People now seem to be afraid of excellence. They demonize those that they believe to be better than them because it reminds them of their own self-percieved inadequacies. We glorify the underachiever and punish those of ability. Now we find ourselves caught up in materialistic consumerism where status is conveyed by possessions. We live in a world where the prime determinant of attractiveness is external asthetics not internal intelligence or ability. We are consumed by petty social dramas in all stages of our lives that, in reality, have very little impact on us except for what we allow them. But what of humanity as a whole? I ask the question WHY have we come to the point where those of ability are only a rare few, and the capabilities of the common man are trampled by the pressures of a society calling for more cogs in the grand machine? Globally speaking, humanity has gone from the shepherd of the planet to its infectious disease, to its clinging parasite. Mankind is a social animal, and strictly speaking, an lone individual has a harder time of survival than it would as part of a collective. However man now uses his role as a random, hidden, obscure individual as a self gratifying excuse for complacency and laziness. Mankind was once akin to a noble predator, understanding that to over-hunt would of course result in death from lack of food. Now we have become a rampant herd ever expanding and contantly grazing, closer in resemblance to a biblical plague of locusts. Look at the nature of a locust swarm. They multiply and consume until what happens? There is nothing left to eat and the swarm dies, with only a few surviving members to continue the population, until at last the land recovers and the swarm grows again. Look at the trend in history. Every great civilization that has fallen was immediately predated by a downward descent into glorifying external beauty, the needs of the many demanding the service of the individuals, and a sense of entitlement without the required effort or ability as the determinant for what is deserved. Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, Mayans, Aztecs, the Chinese Dynasties. There is a resonating theme in each of their downfalls that I cannot ignore, and the parallels with our society do not escape me. Turn on any news channel, and you are bombarded by headlines of disasters, crumbling economies, and failing systems. We live in the information age. They say information is power, but that power does not come from obtaining it, but using it, and unfortunately I can't help but think we are well aware of our situation but still continue to turn a blind eye. People are scared to try, because they are afraid of failure, but the worst failure of all is to not try at all. To live in true freedom eliminates all inhibitions. The fears of mortality must be forgotten. No longer living for death, no longer dying to live. People have fallen into this stigma of believing that living is meant to be a struggle. Survival is no longer an issue for modern humanity. People have forgotten that only a spare millenia seperate us from our ancestors who fought hunger and predators to bring us here today. The predators of modern humanity are the fear of trying born of the fear of failure. Those who do not try cannot fail. Saftey found through ignorance, shackles human individuality. If I sound more zealous than I have in the past, that is because this is a hot button issue for me, but like every blog I am relieved even just by having written it and to know that it was said. I would be lying, however, if I said that I gain no enjoyment from the discussions and sharing of ideas that it generates. I welcome the opportunity to both share my knowledge and draw from yours. My only hope is that like all my ideas that they are recieved in the nature that I attempted to convey them. Irayo Willofeywa 02:17, June 14, 2010 (UTC) Category:Blog posts